Pocketed heel and detachable arch support



May 5, 1953 J, 2,637,122

POCKETED HEEL AND DETACHABLE ARCH SUPPORT Filed Oct. 3, 1951 INVENTOR' JUL/(J5 5462 BY armjizzfim ATTORNEYS Patented May 5, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE POCKETED HEEL AND DETACHABLE ARCH SUPPORT 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a shoe with a pocketed heel and detachable arch support. The present application is a companion to my application 205,356, entitled Shoe and Detachable Arch Support, filed January 10, 1951.

As in the device disclosed in the companion application, the device of the present invention incorporates a special heel seat construction, which not only receives an arch support but tends, under the weight of the wearers foot, to anchor the arch support in position. The arrangement is peculiarly appropriate in the case of open heeled platform soled shoes where the heel seat is exposed and an arch support would be inappropriate but for the present invention. According to the invention, the shoe has a pocket co-extensive with its heel seat and formed by either transversely slitting the insole or sock lining, immediately forward of the heel seat, or by using a separate heel pad. The heel seat is desirably hollowed out beneath the pocket to enhance the comfort of the wearer with or without the detachable arch support, and the heel pad is desirably provided with a U-shaped cushion following its side and rear margins. The arch support, received beneath the pad in the pocket provided in the heel seat is itself socketed beneath the os calsis bone of the wearer by forming an aperture which extends completely through the arch support or through at least one of the plies thereof. In the event that the arch support has an adhesively treated area beneath the s calsis bone, the pocket houses this and confines any of the adhesive which may be transferred to the underlying surface.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in three-quarter rear perspective of a shoe open at the quarter and embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 shows the same shoe in three-quarter front perspective, with portions of the upper broken away to show the arch support which is in place therein.

Fig. 3 is a view in perspective of the arch support used in the assembly of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view in longitudinal section of a shoe representing a slightly modified embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of an inverted arch support with which my invention is advantageously usable.

Fig. 6 is a detail view taken in section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

While the invention is not limited to shoes with platform soles, nor to shoes open at the quarter, I have selected an open platform soled shoe as a means of illustrating the invention. The shoe has a heel 5 Which is slightly hollowed at 6 and connected at its forward end with a platform sole I. The upper 8 is a conventional type which is open at the rear except for the heel-encircling strap at 9, the upper being attached to the sole only forwardly of the heel seat Ill. The heel seat may either comprise a portion I9 of the sock lining I I, separated therefrom by a transverse slit I2 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or it may comprise aseparately pre-fabricated heel pad I90, as in Fig. 4. In either case, the exposed heel seat ply I9 or ISO is free at its forward margin I2 and. has its side and rear margins anchored by stitching I3 to provide a forwardly opening pocket co-extensive with the heel seat to receive the rear end portion I4 of the arch support I5 of Fig. 3 or I59 of Fig. 5. There is no substantial difierence in the appearance of the shoe when the arch support is omitted as in Fig. l, and when it is used as in Figs. 2 and 4.

A feature of the invention consists in the provision of a U-shaped pad I6 of sponge rubber or the like which follows the perimeter of the exposed heel seat ply I9 or I and is desirably positioned by an underlying ply at I! which, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 4, is caught by the stitching I3 and by a separate inner row of stitching at I8, the latter connecting the inner margin of the U-shaped ply I! to the exposed heel seat ply I9 or I90 to provide a circuitously extending passage or channel in which the cushion I6 is confined. I

The wearers heel is pocketed within the circuitously extending cushion I6 and when the arch suport is in place, somewhat raising the level of the exposed heel heat ply I9 or I90, that portion of the wearers heel beneath his 0s calsis bone is permitted to descend somewhat below the general level of the exposed ply I9 or I90 by the aperture formed in one or more plies of the arch support beneath such bone. In the arch support shown in Figs. 3 and 4, there is a hole at 20 which extends completely through the arch support, allowing the exposed heel seat ply to sag into the hole as shown at 2I in Fig. 4. In the arch support shown in Fig. 5, only the bottom ply 22 is apertured, this being shown at 23 in Figs. 5 and 6. In this instance, there being no aperture in the cushion 24, the sagging efiect is less pronounced. In either case, the pocketing of the os calsis bone within the apertured heel portion of the arch support tends to anchor the arch support while the shoe is in use.

If the arch support is of a type using a pressure sensitive adhesive, the use thereof is desirably limited to the portion of the shoe within the pocket, 50 that any of the adhesive which clings to the insole will be protected by the exposed ply [9 or I90 from contact with the wearers foot or hosiery when the arch support is not in use. In the embodiment shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the pressure sensitive adhesive comprises a thin layer at 25 on a narrow strip 26 which spans the aperture 23 and has its ends confined between the cushion 24 and the bottom ply 22 of the arch support. This is not per se my invention but is shown to illustrate a type of arch support for which my pocket is advantageous.

All of the embodiments of the invention provide a well defined heel seat pocket, and in all embodiments the weight of the wearer's heel is floated upon the circumferentially extending U- shaped cushion 16, through which the portion beneath the os calsis bone is allowed to project into anchoring relationship to the arch support, the

os calsis bone and the 'apertured heel portion of the arch support being inter-locked.

For the convenience of shoe manufacturers, the sub-combination comprising the sock lining H and the heel pad 190 and cushion 16, with or without the cushion-retaining ply 11, may constitute a separate article of manufacture.

I claim:

1. In a shoe, the combination with a platform having a sock lining including mid and heel portions, of a flexible heel pad overlying and substantially co-extensive with said heel portion, means attaching the side and. rear margins of said pad to the platform and lining, the front margin of the pad being free to provide forwardly opening pocket beneath. the pad, a U-shaped cushion underlying the side and rear portions of the pad adjacent its. said attached margins, and a detachable arch support having a centrally socketed heel portion disposed in the pocket be neath the pad and a forward portion projection from the pocket and overlying the mid portion of the lining, the socketed heel portion of the arch support underlying the position of the 0s calsis bone of a wearer of the shoe whereby pressure of a wearers foot compresses said U-shaped cushion, and holds the arch support in said pocket.

2. The device of claim 1 in which said arch support has a flexible top ply continuous and unsupported across said socket and yieldable therein under pressure.

3. The device of claim 2 in which the arch support has a plurality of plies, the lowermost of which has an aperture to which the socket opens, said lowermost ply being spanned by an overlying strip having adhesive on its lower surface exposed only through said aperture to engage the platform lining only beneath said pad.

JULIUS BAER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 892,652 Dahlmann July 7, 1908 1,488,596 Gash Apr. 1, 1924 1,676,355 Saperston July 10, 1928 1,960,418 Schaller May 29, 1934 2,086,242 Sheridan July 6, 1937 2,260,377 Herbst Oct. 28, 1941 2,284,164 Porter May 26, 1942 2,379,866 Lumbard June 26, 1945 2,552,589 Ricci May 15, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 244,771 Germany Jan. 28, 1911 879,481 Great Britain Sept. 1, 1932 308,241 Italy Nov. 25, 1932 217,459 Switzerland Feb. 16, 1942 

